The global Church stands at a defining moment. Never before has the gospel been so widely known in some regions, while remaining unheard in others. While many Asian regions record that less than 2% of their populations are Christians, the inverse is true in other parts of the world. This is the case in Southern Africa, generally, and a little piece of real estate called Zimbabwe, my home.
This mission must start at home.
With 85% of Zimbabweans identifying as Christian, the challenge here isn’t a lack of Christian language or symbols or presence. The danger is instead nominal faith—inherited or assumed belief, bound up with tradition, family, rather than belief born of conviction. Admittedly, that figure of 85% is undoubtedly an exaggeration; yet it also indicates that Zimbabwe has much higher gospel saturation rate compared to many other African regions and countries. In other words, nominalism is rife; however, there is also a substantial body of biblically faithful churches. These churches, I’ll argue below, are capable and should therefore be participating in global mission. This mission must start at home, among African churches. It is here that we must bring the light, if we ever hope to do that globally.
The Desperate Reality for Many
A medical emergency recently took me to South Asia, to a country that cites just over 2% of its population being Christian. I met a young believer there who had turned from the gods of her family to follow Christ. Through the gospel, she’d been brought to a firm trust in Christ at personal cost. She and many other believers like her are often subjected to monitoring, harassment, and physical harm.
There are many places around the world where the Christian faith isn’t assumed or nominal.
This encounter got me thinking: there are many places around the world where the Christian faith isn’t assumed or nominal. Instead, it is seriously tested and hugely demanding. Christians gather quietly. They must worship carefully. And they live with the awareness that following Christ will very likely lead to harassment, possibly imprisonment, and even death. Such believers live as anomalies within their communities, communities committed to the worship of other gods.
All of this raised an important question for me: What can I do in response? Admittedly, faced by a challenge of such grand proportions I was tempted to think there’s nothing I can do. Only God’s answer comes in Matthew 28:18-20, advancement of the gospel, one person at a time.
A Demand for Action
In my city back home, and indeed across Zimbabwe, Christianity has made significant inroads in the past five centuries. While recognising that our faith takes on many shades, with the prosperity gospel and other groups heavily influenced by African Traditional Religions (ATR), many sound churches are nevertheless scattered across the country, congregations where the gospel is faithfully taught. These churches are made up of thousands upon thousands of people who were liberated from worshipping false gods to follow the only true God (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10).
Because we believe and trust the gospel we must proclaim it.
Noting these relatively high rates of gospel-penetration, compared to the dismal rates reported in other regions of the world, the question for us is: What are we to do in response? And the answer is simple. Because we believe and trust the gospel, benefitting from God’s grace, we must proclaim it. We must proclaim the truth we’ve embraced and rejoice in. Many remain in darkness, without hope. Therefore as we await the Lord’s return we ought to herald his coming, calling people to faith.
Gracious Deliverance for All
As I’ve already said, Matthew 28:18-20 provides a powerful theological foundation for this call. Missions exist, as John Piper has often put it, because universal worship doesn’t. Such mission isn’t only necessary it’s also urgent. In order for people to turn from idols to worship the one true God they must be confronted by the gospel. They must hear it, learning both of their sinfulness and the saving grace of our God. They need to know that Christ works to reconcile us to God. There’s no other way.
Having responded to the gospel in faith we must respond with witness.
Indeed, we often memorise these without applying them to ourselves. Having responded to the gospel in faith we must respond with witness. All around the African church we see God’s mission field. And we are his agents for proclamation.
A Gospel Mission for the African Church
This message is desperately needed in parts of the world where gospel witness is minimal to non-existent. There are millions who’ve never heard of the one true God and that his salvation is by grace, through free forgiveness in Christ.
The African church has been entrusted with this message.
The African church has been entrusted with this message. Therefore the African church cannot remain only a recipient and benefactor of missions. We cannot only seek the strengthening and flourishing of regional churches; or continue measuring our capacity to be used by God based on economic metrics. God has deposited among us a great treasure, in earthen vessels. For this we must be exceedingly grateful! In this we must find the courage to act. We must recognise the great opportunity before us to advance the kingdom of God in regions where the light of the gospel is yet to shine brightly. We must in the grace of God labour with urgency, while it is still today (Hebrews 3:13).
1. Pray
Practically, in the first place, African church leaders also have the responsibility to raise awareness concerning the state of the Church global, and its desperate needs, especially in regions such as the 10-40 Window. God calls us to fall to our knees, praying for unreached nations and peoples. Added to that we must pray for labourers, the protection of persecuted believers, Bible translation work, and for the truth of God’s word to be believed in the hearts of many.
2. Send
Secondly, God calls on his people to respond with their feet, by sending men and women into the world with the word of the cross on their lips and the love of Christ in their hearts, so that thousands upon thousands of God’s image-bearers, lost in darkness, may come to true faith and be restored. A great deposit has been entrusted to us. Will we bury it or use it wisely, so that the yield may be multiplied, for the Master’s joy and our reward?
